Oh, The Ties that Bind. Why I.R.S., The AP Records, and Benghazi Matters to All Americans

The Obama administration is in the middle of three "scandals".  The fact the media is finally on board with them all is great start.  Of course this is years too late, but I will say welcome aboard.  

The I.R.S. is the most important, to me anyway.  Others will have another view of it.  But to find out that one of the most powerful government agencies was specifically targeting people based on political affiliation is nothing short of Nixonian and completely unacceptable.  This shouldn't matter what side of the political aisle you are on.  If this is allowed to happen, it won't take long for them to come gunning for an organization that you are fond of.  It doesn't matter that these groups happened to be conservative.  All that matters is that a government agency that has the power to put you in jail was targeting individual Americans as well as non-profit groups.  There is no way to say at this moment if President Obama is involved.  I, of course, wouldn't be a bit surprised if he were, but so far at this point the evidence of that isn't out there.  Yet. 

But we do see is a pattern of behavior with this administration.  Of course people like me have been saying this for years, but at least the media is seeing it for themselves.  President Obama doesn't like anything that doesn't fit his narrative.  If he doesn't like, he thinks he can just ignore it and somehow the rest of us won't figure it out.  

Baghdad Bob Jim Carney is reaching epic proportions of comedy with his denials that the White House had a hand in the changing the talking points of the terrorist attacks on Benghazi.  I mean seriously, it was the anniversary of 9/11, did anyone in this country not automatically think terrorism the moment they heard about the attacks?  al Qaeda is well-known for liking anniversaries and dates that have meaning for their attacks.  That is isn't a talking point, it is just a statement of fact.  Anyone that is paying attention, even a little, has seen the original C.I.A. talking points and what the statement became after all the fingers got into that pie.  Some of those fingers came from The White House.  Denying it only makes them look silly.  But denying they are.  

The AP dustup is very interesting considering that President Obama and AG Holder both have been talking about changing the laws regarding the rules that the government has when it comes to national security leaks and the press.  Yet, four years later nothing has been done.  The real scary part of this incident is that people who have information that the American people should be aware of they will be afraid to come forward.  That doesn't bode well for future generations.  

The ties to all of these stories comes down to how stupid this administration is.  This is by their own admission.  Apparently, according to Obama, the daily presidential briefing never said the word terrorism, even though we now know that the C.I.A. said about the final version that they didn't see point of the talking points since all words of terrorism were removed.  President Obama didn't know about the I.R.S. scandal until the news reports.  Both he and his spokesperson has said this.  The report was given to them two weeks ago.  The same story about the AP scandal.  What type of management is being used in this White House?  Who exactly is making these decisions not to bring this to the attention of the president?  Shouldn't that person be held responsible for making the president look so inept?  Now, I personally feel that president is inept, but for those that are his "fans" it must be very disappointing indeed.  

But the biggest problem with all of these scandals what is really going to happen is the loss of trust in the government.  It isn't like the trust was all that great to start with.  Matter of fact, it is very, very, low.  Those numbers are just going to go lower.  While this may in the end, help the politico class, because fewer people are going to pay attention.  They may end up staying in office because only the truly partisan will show up to vote in 14.  Which of course means that the problems will only get worse.  

I do wonder if President Obama would like to change his words during OSU's graduation speech:

Unfortunately, you’ve grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that’s at the root of all our problems; some of these same voices also doing their best to gum up the works. They’ll warn that tyranny is always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices. Because what they suggest is that our brave and creative and unique experiment in self-rule is somehow just a sham with which we can’t be trusted.

We have never been a people who place all of our faith in government to solve our problems; we shouldn’t want to. But we don’t think the government is the source of all our problems, either. Because we understand that this democracy is ours. And as citizens, we understand that it’s not about what America can do for us; it’s about what can be done by us, together, through the hard and frustrating but absolutely necessary work of self-government. (Applause.) And, Class of 2013, you have to be involved in that process

Yes some of those voices talking of tyranny are The Tea Party.  Turns out they were right.